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Many web sites include in their terms of service things about automated access being prohibited. One example is in ebay's robots.txt file:

The use of robots or other automated means to access the eBay site\n without the express permission of eBay is strictly prohibited. Notwithstanding the foregoing, eBay may permit automated access to access certain eBay pages but soley for the limited purpose of including content in publicly available search engines. Any other use of robots or failure to obey the robots exclusion standards set forth at is strictly prohibited.

What does their prohibition of automated access actually mean? Does it make automated access illegal or just frowned upon?

Christopher Shroba
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    This is a legal question that depends on your jurisdiction, not a technical one. – David Schwartz Mar 01 '14 at 08:46
  • I agree this is offtopic, but here's general guidelines, though: if you accept EULA (for example, register user you're planning to use for scraping), its contents are binding on most jurisdictions. – Olli Mar 01 '14 at 10:04

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